"Truth Is the Way"

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Truth Is the Way

 

Know this to be true: If we, individually and collectively, knew the truth that makes us free, we, our families, our nation and the very world itself would be in peace and harmony.

Jesus said, “I am the way.” If we study the special way Jesus used the personal pronouns I and me, we realize that in this passage we can substitute the word truth for the personal pronoun I. Thus, truth is the way. Jesus was the personification of truth.

Truth has the power to transform us, our families, our nation and the entire world.  Truth heals us; truth saves us. Jesus said, “Sanctify them through thy truth; thy word is truth” (John 17:17). To be sanctified is to be saved. Thus, we are saved by truth.

Jesus was sanctified by his Father ... the same thing as being sanctified by truth. Jesus said, “Say ye of him, whom the Father hath sanctified, and sent into the world” (John 10:36). A misunderstanding of the passage in John 3:16 has led many astray from understanding who sent Jesus.

The prophet Isaiah left us the secret for discovering the truth that makes us free—the truth that would save us, the truth that would heal us. Jesus confirmed what Isaiah said; however, Jesus’ use of the personal pronoun I might have caused many to gloss over this gem of wisdom. This is explained later, but first a few things to think about.

The old myths, “truth hurts” and “time heals all wounds” are false and misleading. Truth is the only thing that brings us peace, joy and happiness—what everyone desires. Satan (our fearful, false ego-self) is most devious and deceiving. Although Satan is the hidden cause of hurt, it has us believing that truth hurts. By the time you finish reading this essay, you will know that truth is the healer, not time. It’s ironic. Deep within the soul of our being there is nothing we desire more than living in harmony with truth, yet there is nothing our false ego self resists more than truth.

Learn the truth! The Satan within us is the hidden cause of all mental turmoil and suffering: crime, violence, anger, anxiety, child abuse, spousal abuse, the breakup of families, psychosomatic illnesses, jealousy—all that robs us of peace, joy, and happiness. We free ourselves from Satan by knowing the truth that makes us free.

So, what is truth? It would help with our understanding if we would keep simple things simple. A simple definition of truth according to Webster is:  “that which is true.” When we obliterate falsehoods what remains must be the truth.

Solomon said, “Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom; and with all thy getting, get understanding.” Knowing the truth that makes us free is the ultimate wisdom.

The task of discovering the truth that sets us free is not learning anything new. The task is unlearning fears and false beliefs. Only that which is real; only that which conforms to fact or reality; only that which is true remain after our fears and false beliefs vanish. Truth is the absence of falsehoods. Truth is what is. When we are free of fearful, false beliefs, we are in harmony with truth; we must be happy, peaceful, satisfied, and contented: it’s our true nature.

If you persevere and keep chipping away all that is false and fearful — bringing it into conscious awareness until you understand it — it will vanish. It’s all simple, yet elusive. When we learn the truth about our false beliefs, we no longer believe them. When we no longer believe them, they disappear. When fearful, false beliefs disappear, what remains is truth.

Truth is eternal; truth never changes. Unlike truth, falsehoods vanish in the light of truth … as simply as the darkness vanishes when a light is turned on.

If our lives were truth driven we would be ecstatically happy, satisfied and contented. Instead, for the most part, we are ego driven, doing those things that impress others—doing things that make us appear special and important. However, it’s all a mask, hiding the way we believe and think in our heart.

Life will never get any better than it is when we are living in harmony with truth; thus, the wisdom of noted thinkers:

 

 

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Although the truth that brings us peace, joy, and happiness is what all seekers are seeking, truth is the one thing that our false ego self will resist to the bitter end.

H. L. Mencken, American journalist and essayist, said:

“For the habitual truth-teller and truth-seeker, indeed, the whole world has very little liking.  He is always unpopular, and not infrequently his unpopularity is so excessive that it endangers his life. ... The men the American people admire most extravagantly are the most daring liars; the men they detest most violently are those who try to tell them the truth. ... Run your eye back over the list of martyrs, lay and clerical: nine-tenths of them, you will find, stood accused of nothing worse than honest efforts to find out and announce the truth.”  (From THE VINTAGE MENCKEN, by Alistair Cooke).

 

Along with this line of thinking, there is the Armenian proverb: "He who speaks the truth must have one foot in the stirrup." And, the prophet Amos said, "They abhor him who speaketh uprightly" (Amos 5:10).

Regardless of what fundamentalists believe and teach about Jesus dying on the cross to save us from or sins and that he took our sins on himself, Jesus was persecuted for the same reason that his disciples were persecuted. And Jesus and all of his disciples except John were executed: Because they were teaching the gospel of peace and truth. The truth teacher Socrates was executed by being forced to drink a cup of poison.

Let's face it! Many people, including many who call themselves Christian, do not understand, believe — and do — what Jesus said. Jesus expected his followers to do what he said. Jesus said, “Why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say” (Luke 6:46).

Jesus said to his disciples: “Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. … He that believeth [the gospel] and is baptized shall be saved, but he that believeth not shall be damned” (Mark 16:16-17). Jesus also said: “This people honoureth me with their lips, but their heart is far from me. Howbeit in vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men. For laying aside the commandment of God, ye hold the tradition of men … Full well ye reject the commandment of God, that ye may keep your own tradition” (Mark 7:5-9).

Isn’t this what fundamentalists do? Worship Jesus (which Jesus said is in vain), but teaching for doctrine the commandments of men? How many Christians do you know who do the following things Jesus and other biblical teachers said?

 

 

Regardless of what fundamentalists believe about the birth and death of Jesus, if we did any one of these things, we would be saved; we would be in harmony with truth; we would be perfect; and we would have peace and joy ... what the entire Bible is all about.

 

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The Apostle Paul said, “Be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind.” We have been transformed when we obliterate all that is fearful and false from our subconscious mind—when we have done the things mentioned above … when we have purified our heart.

Further, we are transformed when we do what Jesus said, “Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 18:3). Little children are born spiritually perfect— humble and in harmony with truth. And that is the way Jesus expected his followers to be. Little children become sinful and corrupted when they are born into a sinful, corrupt environment.

Thus, all those passages listed above refer to things we must do.  I’m reminded of a response from a reader of my writings. He said he had read the Bible cover to cover five times. And from the other things he said, he was still searching. Many people study the Bible for a lifetime; they study, study, and study, but never discover the truth that sets them free.

The problem is that most Christians do not do what Jesus and other biblical teachers said to do. They do not enter into the closet and shut the door; they do not clean the inside of the cup and the platter … and on and on and on. In brief, they do not do the things listed above.

One of the most horrible failures of the mainline churches is that they do not teach people how to do the things they must do to be saved (the things mentioned above). Instead, fundamentalists teach such misleading things as: Jesus was sent down from heaven as God in human flesh and he died for us on the cross, taking our sins on himself.  Further, fundamentalists teach people to take Christ into their heart and accept Jesus as our savior—things that Jesus did not teach.

In the sense that there are things we must do to be saved, we are our own savior. No one — or nothing outside ourselves — can discover the truth for us, except ourselves. Buddha said, “Be ye lamps unto yourselves.  Seek salvation alone in truth.  Those who shall not look for assistance to anyone beside themselves, it is they who shall reach the very topmost height.”

Any way you slice it, the misleading beliefs and teachings of fundamentalists do not alter what we must do to be saved—what we must do to discover the truth that makes us free.

Jesus cautioned: “Many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many” (Matthew 24: 4-13). False teachers do not teach us the truth about the truth that makes us free. Clearly, in view of all the suffering, mental turmoil, crime, violence, dysfunctional families, divorces, anxiety, hate, anger, hypocrites, and on and on and on, many have been deceived.

And in view of the fact that truth has the power to eradicate all mental suffering and turmoil, it’s understandable that Jesus said: “But whoso shall offend one of these little ones who believe in me, it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea” (Matthew 18:6).

Jesus also said, “But woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye shut up the kingdom of heaven against men; for ye neither go in yourselves, neither suffer ye them that are entering to go in” (Matthew 23:13).

The above passage by Jesus, “You shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free,” will mean very little to us until we know the truth that makes us free. Discovering the truth is experience based learning. For example, we would never have known the taste of an apple without the experience of tasting an apple.

One of the difficulties of discovering truth is that we don’t know what we are searching for until we find it. Then we know from the experience. Then we know that we know that we know.

Thus, the way to discover the truth that makes us free is by being still — entering into our closet and shutting the door (blocking the chatter of the ego) — and communing with our heart. Entering into our closet and shutting the door is a prerequisite for transcending the chatter of the false-ego self that always leads us astray from truth—that is, until we overcome the world of the ego … what Jesus and his disciples did.

And it is significant to know that no one can impart truth to us in a manner that we can believe, understand, and embody. Teachers can only teach us things that we must do. Doing the things that Jesus and other biblical teachers said to do (things listed above) is a do-it-yourself task.

 

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Perhaps I would never have written this essay (at least,  not as it is written) had I not practiced Transcendental Meditation® (TM), as taught by the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi and learned to calm my mind. By learning how to meditate I learned to calm my mind and to block out the chatter of my false ego-self. I learned to listen to myself and to discern that which is true from that which is false.

However, I must explain that I added an additional step to TM. The instructions for TM are to repeat a mantra twice daily for 20 minutes. Thus, I repeated a mantra to calm my mind and I added the following: In the stillness of my mind, I would ponder on a troubling matter and then I let my mind take me to where it needed to go for providing guidance and understanding. At the time that I did this, I did not realize that this is the same thing that Jesus said to do: “Enter into your closet and shut the door.” Or, what David the Psalmist said to do: “Be still and commune with your own heart.” Doing the things Jesus and other biblical teachers said to do is experience-based learning. In a nutshell, this is how to discover the truth that makes us free.

And this is almost unbelievable: A few years ago, a friend, who held a high position in a Protestant church, was scheduled for tests at a hospital. I loaned him a cassette recorder and a tape which had instructions for TM. And I told him to follow his doctor’s instructions but that TM might help more than what the doctor suggested. The friend, along with his wife, began listening to the tape, but quit and returned the tape and the recorder, exclaiming: “That is Satan worship.” Think about it: calming the mind, an imperative for discovering the truth that makes us free, being Satan worship.

There are about 400 Protestant denominations, because of different beliefs. There are considerable discord and differences in beliefs in the churches. How many churches teach clearly the things listed above?  Let's face it. There are many misleading teachings in the churches, and many churches are packed with hypocrites. Most people are not getting the message Jesus and other biblical teachers intended for us.

Think about it: Truth has the power to restore unity — to render all in one accord — to all people who believe and embody what the biblical teachers said. Can you imagine — can you comprehend — the peace, joy, and blessings people would enjoy if they worshipped together and all were in one accord? It’s possible, if only people knew the truth that makes them free … if people were in harmony with absolute truth.

As it is, because of embracing false beliefs, we have complicated the simple. If we did one thing that Jesus said to do first, we would be saved; we would be perfect; we would know the truth that makes us free, and we would have peace and joy. Jesus said, “Cleanse first that which is in the cup and platter.” When we do this one thing (or any of the things listed above), our heart is pure; we are perfect, the way Jesus said to be. And, when our heart is pure, we are saved, and we have peace and joy—we have life and we have it more abundantly.

 

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Jesus said, “I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly” (John 10:10). If we do an in-depth study of the teachings of Jesus (and other biblical teachers), we realize that the sole purpose for Jesus preaching the gospel is that we might have peace and joy. Jesus’ teachings are about the present … not about finding peace and joy — not about “having life and having it more abundantly” — after we are dead and gone.

Jesus also said, “If I cast out devils by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God is come unto you” (Matthew 12:28). The kingdom of God [heaven] comes to us — we have peace and joy — the minute we obliterate the devils within us. We free ourselves from the devils within us by discovering the truth that makes us free. The spirit of God is within us, and it is in harmony with truth.

There is nothing that can bring us more peace and joy than truth. It's our false ego self (the Satan within us) that is evil and that stirs up mire and dirt—that robs us of peace and joy.

Further when we pray to our Father who is in secret, we are doing what David the Psalmist said to do about 3,000 years ago: "Be still and commune with your own heart." This is quite significant for discovering the truth that makes us free.

Jesus and other biblical teachers stressed abiding by that which is true, although they used different words and phrases. Doing the will of the Father (language of Jesus) is the same thing as walking in the ways of the Lord (language of the prophets of the Old Testament). When we are guided by our true divine spiritual self, we are in harmony with truth, and we have peace and joy; we are happy, satisfied, and contented.

 

Many people get themselves in a quandary trying to figure out what their purpose is, thinking they would be happy, if only they knew.  In all simplicity, our purpose is to express life in harmony with truth. When we do this we are doing the will of our Father—a prerequisite for having peace and joy … the same thing as keeping the commandments of God.  Solomon said, “Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments; for this is the whole duty of man” (Ecclesiastes 12:13).

The Apostle Paul said, “And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds” (Philippians 4:7). We enjoy the peace of God when we are in harmony with truth. Until we are in harmony with truth, we have no inkling of the experience of the peace that passeth all understanding; we have no basis for comparison.

Isaiah said, “Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee” (Isaiah 26:3). Peace does not get any better than perfect peace. When our mind is stayed on thee, we are in harmony with truth; we are walking in the ways of the Lord; we are doing the will of our Father. And we have peace and joy … what everyone desires … what the entire Bible is all about.

The apostle Paul said: “All scripture [the entire Bible] is given by inspiration of God ... That the man of God may be perfect” (2 Timothy 3:16-17). The man of God is one who believes and does what Jesus and other biblical teachers said to do. When our heart is pure, we are perfect; we are guided by truth, which brings us peace and joy. Remember, Jesus said, “Be perfect.”

Everyone wants to be happy. The simple secret for finding happiness is found in “The Proverbs”: “Happy is the man who finds wisdom and the man who gets understanding” (Proverbs 3:13).  And, “Whoso trusteth in the Lord, happy is he” (Proverbs 16:20). Whoso trusteth in the Lord abides by truth, and consequently, they are happy. Further, we are happy when we have overcome the world of the ego. Too, we are happy when we are perfect … the way Jesus said to be.

Unfortunately, Satan (our fearful, false ego-self, fabricated out of obscure fear and deeply held false beliefs about ourselves) is so deceitful that most people are as the Buddha said, “led astray, thinking delusion is better than truth.”

A vast majority of people do not realize they are wearing a mask, pretending to be something they are not … pretending to be different from the way they believe and think in their heart. Robert Burns, Scottish poet, said, "Oh what some power the gift he give us, to see ourselves as others see us!"

About 100 years BC, Titus Lucretius Carus, Roman poet, understood something about the masks people wear. He said, “So it is more useful to watch a man in times of peril and in adversity to discern what kind of man he is; for then at last words of truth are drawn from the depths of his heart, and the mask is torn off, reality remains.”

 

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Think about it! If a vast majority of people believed and embodied the gospel that Jesus preached — if the vast majority were truthful and free of masks — our nation would be the light of the world. Jesus told his believers and followers, “Ye are the light of the world.” (Matthew 5:14). Light (in this particular passage) is another word for truth.

As it is, anyone who has his/her finger on the pulse of the direction this nation is headed realizes that we are headed toward being utterly wasted. Isaiah said, “The nation and kingdom that will not serve thee shall perish; yea, those nations shall be utterly wasted” (Isaiah 60:12). At this perilous time in the history of our nation, truth is our only hope for survival.

 If we, individually and collectively, understood and followed the wisdom of Isaiah, if we kept our mind stayed on thee — if we were guided by truth — instead of being on the path to destruction, our nation and the entire world would be as Isaiah described: “Violence shall no more be heard in thy land, wasting nor destruction within thy borders … the Lord shall be unto thee an everlasting light … and the days of thy mourning shall be ended. Thy people also shall be all righteous” (Isaiah 60:18-21).

Think about it: “Thy people shall be all righteous.” Think about what our families, our nation, and the very world itself will be like when all people are righteous. We are righteous when we keep our mind stayed on truth; and we enjoy peace and harmony.

 All will be righteous when religious teachers begin teaching what biblical teachers taught—teaching in a manner people can understand, believe and embody … after all, the kind of life that Jesus and other biblical teachers wanted everybody to live is the kind of life everybody inherently desires to live.

Isaiah also said, “They shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more” (Isaiah 2:4). Thus, we would live in peace and harmony if we were guided by truth.

Jesus said, “Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation; and every city or house divided against itself shall not stand” (Matthew 12:25). Let’s face it: We, our families, our nation — and especially our leaders in Washington who keep stirring up the mire and dirt — are divided. And we are headed toward an incomprehensible fall. With so many nations having us in the crosshairs of nuclear weapons, America the beautiful could be rendered America the wasteland.

Truth has the potential for bringing peace and harmony to a troubled, dangerous world. The gospel that Jesus preached and that he commanded his disciples to preach to every creature in the world is the gospel of truth. Truth has the potential for changing the direction in which we are headed.

 

Jesus said to his disciples, “This gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in the entire world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come.” Jesus was speaking about the end of the world of the ego—the end of suffering, violence, wars and the threat of wars … all that is ugly and deplorable. He was not speaking about the end of the world as many seem to think about the end of the world.

The apostle Paul referred to the gospel as “the gospel of peace.” Thus, when the gospel of peace is preached throughout the world we will have peace and joy.  We will have peace, joy, and harmony when we overcome the world of the ego and are guided by truth.

 
Jesus said, “I am not of this world. … I have overcome the world.” And about his disciples, who were devout followers and believers of what Jesus taught, Jesus said, “They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.” … meaning the false sinful world of the ego.

It’s uncanny the wisdom that Jesus and the prophets of the Old Testament understood thousands of years ago—things that fundamentalists do not seem to understand today. For example, David the Psalmist said, “Through thy precepts I get understanding; therefore I hate every false way. Thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path” (Psalms 119:104-105). “Thy word” is the truth. When we are guided by truth, we are doing the “will of our Father,” a prerequisite for enjoying heaven.

David also said, “For the word of the Lord is right; and all his works are done in truth” (Psalms 33:4). And David said, “I hate vain thoughts; but thy law do I love (Psalms 119:113). Vain thoughts come from the false ego self, and they bring suffering in one manner or another.  Thy Law is truth, which comes from the true divine spiritual self. Truth brings peace, joy, and harmony.

Think about what our families, our nation, and the entire world would be like if all our works were done in truth. It’s incomprehensible; all would be peace and harmony.

 

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Thus, David hated the false ways of the ego, which are the underlying cause of mental turmoil, suffering and discontent—the cause of all social problems, wars and the threats of war. And he loved truth (thy law), which brings us peace, joy, happiness and harmony—deep within the soul of us, what everyone inherently desires.

If we are alienated from God, we are divided in our psyche. In the language of the apostle James, we are double minded. Individually, our divided self — divided between our false ego self (Satan) and our true divine, spiritual self (God) — is the underlying cause of hate, anger, depression, anxiety, suicide, psychosomatic illnesses, tension headaches, drug addiction, alcoholism, crime, violence, the breakup of families, wars and the threat of wars—all mental turmoil and suffering  …  all that is destructive and deplorable.

If we, individually and collectively, did first what Jesus said to do first — if we cleaned first that which is in the cup and the platter — we would be in harmony with truth … all would be peace and joy. Think about the ramifications: No crime and violence; far fewer police officers; court cases; prison facilities; dysfunctional families; divorces; no psychosomatic illnesses, and far less wrangling and bickering in Washington, and on and on and on—all would be peace and harmony.

The apostle Luke said, “The law and the prophets were until John; since that time the kingdom of God is preached” (Luke 16:16).  In “The Gospel According to Mark” we find, “After John was put in prison, Jesus went into Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God. … And saying, "The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent ye, and believe the gospel” (Mark 1:14-15).

At hand means the present— here and now. Remember that Jesus said, “The kingdom of God is within you.”  The Apostle Paul said, “The kingdom of God is righteousness, and peace, and joy” (Romans 14:17). Think about it: Where else can we find peace and joy — where else can we find the kingdom of God (heaven) — except within ourselves? Let us not gloss over the fact that Jesus said, “The kingdom of God is within you.”  Thus, when the gospel is preached to the entire world (in a manner that people can understand, believe, and embody), in due time peace, joy, happiness, and harmony will permeate the entire world.

In the 1700s, Denis Diderot, essayist and philosopher, said, “I can be expected to look for the truth but not to find it.” Yet, the secret for discovering the truth has been known for about 3,000 years; it’s in the Old Testament. If there is any such thing as the hidden secret of the ages, what the prophet Isaiah said must be the secret. Isaiah let us know the secret for discovering the truth that makes us free.

Isaiah said, “Hear ye indeed, but understand not; and see ye indeed, but perceive not. Make the heart of this people fat, and make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and convert, and be healed” (Isaiah 6:9-10). (Emphasis added).

The secret for gaining wisdom and understanding — the secret for discovering the truth that makes us free — is understanding with our heart. We understand with our heart by doing what David the Psalmist said to do: “Be still and commune with your own heart” (Psalms 4:4).

Ralph Waldo Emerson, American essayist and poet, said: “There is a guidance for each of us, and by lowly listening, we shall hear the right word. ...  Place yourself in the middle of the stream of power and wisdom that flows into your life. Then, without effort, you are impelled to truth and to perfect contentment.” We lowly listen by retreating to that quiet place within referred to by David the Psalmist as the secret place of the most high.

Jesus said essentially the same thing that Isaiah said. Jesus said: “By hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand; and seeing ye shall see, and shall not perceive. For this people’s heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed; lest at any time they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and should understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them” (Matthew 13:14-15).

Whereas Isaiah said, and be healed, Jesus said, I should heal them. (This is another passage in which we can substitute the word truth for the personal pronoun I).

In summary, Truth is a healer; we are saved by truth.  Truth has the power to bring peace and joy to us and the entire world—what everyone desires.

Can you imagine a society, a nation, and the world in peace and harmony? Can you imagine what we, our families, our society — the very world itself — would be like if we lived in agreement with truth and were genuinely happy, satisfied, and contented ... rather than wearing our masks — keeping up our facade — pretending to be different from the way we are … different from the way we believe and think in our heart?

It's incomprehensible. Everyone would be happy, satisfied, and contented. Families would be happy, harmonious, and they would stay together. Crime, violence, and suffering would vanish. Truth, peace and harmony would permeate the entire world.

There will never be any more love, joy, happiness, and peace of mind than we have the potential for enjoying this very minute, and all that is required is knowing the truth that makes us free. We discover truth by communing and understanding with our heart. There is no other way!"

 

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Copyright © 2008-2009 by Dwight Nichols. All rights reserved.

 

Note: When I wrote my first book, Listening to Ourselves: The Key to Everything that Matters, I did not know that David the Psalmist said “Be still and commune with your own heart” … the same thing as being still and listening to ourselves. On the back cover of the book, I went so far as to say: “You cannot follow the 30-day program in this book (practicing the exercises seriously and conscientiously) without discovering truth … or at least be well on your way.” And I must add: The exercises are designed to help one identify his or her faults and to understand with their heart.

 

The gospel Jesus preached would bring us and the entire world peace and joy if we believed and did what Jesus said. Learn the truth. www.peacetruth.com

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